Katoomba

We've just taken a(nother) long weekend -- this time to go to Katoomba so that I could run the six foot track marathon from Katoomba to Jenolan Caves. The race itself was lots of fun -- but there's a full account of it on my trog which you can read here if you're interested. But the weekend was also designed to spend some time out of Canberra (probably for the last time before Nat pops) and relax with Rob, Al and Max; as well as Susie, Patrick, Josh & Mia.

The first thing we discovered upon our arrival was that we scored with our accommodation. It was a relatively old cottage, but the view from the back deck (see photo) was pretty special. It was perched right on the edge of the scarp, a few hundred metres from the three sisters and looking out to Mt Solitary and Narrow Neck. Looked even better in the morning with fog lying along all the valleys.

While we were enjoying the view out one side, we didn't really notice what was happening on the front door step until we decided to go down to town for a coffee. I was just walking out the front door with Ella, when I saw a gigantic snake loitering on the door step. I slammed the door in his face, and we snuck around to the window to watch this snake, as he tried to get through the window, and then curled up next to the woodbox. Ella was so excited -- she ran around saying "Big Nake" and trying to touch it through the glass. I was scared witless, and despite the glass between Ella and the snake, still wasn't comfortable with her trying to play with this creature. Nat rang the owners of the house to ask if this was normal (it wasn't) by which stage the big nake had started to move off. After discovering it was probably a python (non-venomous) Nat plucked up a bit of bravado and trailed along after it (Ella in her arms) to get some good photos. I stayed inside until it was gone...